Need For Reform - Policy Vacuum

A policy vacuum is threatening scenic coastlines and marine wildlife on Ireland’s East coast

No Strategic Planning

Ireland, a small island nation, has no strategic plan for use of its seas - probably our greatest natural resource

Developer- led projects

This policy vacuum has enabled developers to claim large stretches of our coastal zone on a “first come first served” basis, and then apply to the Minister for the Marine for foreshore leases for construction of large-scale offshore wind farms under outdated legislation, drawn up before industrial development at sea was envisaged.

Democratic deficit

The Foreshore Act 1933 confers authority on the Minister to award foreshore leases for construction in Irish waters at his absolute discretion. There is no statutory involvement of local coastal planning authorities and no public right of appeal to an independent planning appeals board. Irish people have no control over development off their coastlines – a key part of Ireland’s heritage.

Inadequate regulation

Under this outdated legislation and in a planning vacuum, two of the biggest offshore wind farms in the world (520 MW Arklow Bank Wind Park and 1100MW Codling Wind Park) have been permitted by the Minister for the Marine, 10/12 km off Wicklow on Ireland’s East coast.

Inappropriate Scale of Development

The size of the permitted developments and their proximity to a scenic coastline are out of line with best international practice. There is now a total of 1620 MW of offshore wind power permitted off Wicklow - involving over 400 turbines, up to 150 metres high covering a total area of 123km². This is 15% more than the total amount of offshore wind power - 1400MW - installed worldwide at end 2009. Further large scale development is proposed off Dundalk, Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford.

No cumulative impact assessment.

There has been no independent, professional assessment of the cumulative impact of these large scale offshore wind farms on County Wicklow and adjoining counties.

No cost /benefit analysis

No cost/ benefit analysis (economic, social and environmental) of these unprecedented industrial developments and their required infrastructure on land and sea has been carried out.

Developers’ profit

The two foreshore leases in Irish state-owned waters, awarded in this inappropriate manner, with no competitive tender , have been sold on to international power companies by the original Irish promoters (Airtricity/ NTR and Treasury Holdings respectively), at a price based on the size of the development permitted, netting significant profit.

Irish people lose out

Most Irish people are unaware of the undemocratic nature of the permitting process, the massive scale of development permitted and proposed or its cumulative impact on the natural beauty of Ireland’s East coast, highly valued by local people and tourists alike.

Heritage at Risk

These developments will change the character and quality of Ireland’s unspoilt coastal landscapes designated for protection in county development plans

Have unknown impacts on sea birds and marine wildlife, already under threat from human activities and climate change.

EU Policy

Ireland is in contravention of EU Environmental Law on this issue. In particular, it is in breach of the consolidated Environmental Impact Assessment Directive by failing to have in place “access to a review procedure of decisions to grant consent which is fair, equitable and not prohibitively expensive”.

In breach of the EU SEA Directive, no strategic environmental assessment to assess cumulative impacts has been carried out in advance of permitting large scale industrial development in Wicklow's coastal zone.

Ireland is also lagging seriously behind best European practice with regard to introduction of integrated maritime policies and marine spatial planning to ensure sustainable development.